Letter: Research before hysteria

Mike Barth wrote Americans need personal assault weapons to defend our freedoms from a tyrannical government. He's distrustful of our government because he believes:

1. The Department of Homeland Security ordered 1.6 billion hollow-point .40-caliber bullets banned for use by the U.S. military. He notes these could be used to shoot every American five times.

2. DHS has also ordered bullet-proof checkpoint booths and lots of radiation-protection pills. He reasons these purchases suggest the federal government is planning some ruse to justify imposing martial law.

3. FEMA's mission has been changed from emergency preparation and response to crowd control.

4. President Barack Obama insists Americans have no right to purchase guns and ammunition for their personal defense.

Fact checking and common sense refutes each point above. These bullets, available to private citizens and in use by many police departments, were not ordered by DHS, and FEMA's mission hasn't been changed to crowd control. Obama has repeatedly supported Second Amendment rights to gun ownership.

It's true many of the founding fathers were concerned about a strong central government based largely on the tyrannical histories of European governments. It's also true that the founding fathers were distrustful of an emotional and misinformed American citizenry. They'd be relieved to know that contemporary Americans objectively research rumors and claims to fact before accepting them as truth.